Whether you are looking to buy an entry-level, affordable or premium smartphone, there are always options out there, which invariably leaks to confusion. After the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, a lot of users might be confused whether to buy the new Galaxy smartphone, or opt for the iPhone. We pitted the […]

Whether you are looking to buy an entry-level, affordable or premium smartphone, there are always options out there, which invariably leaks to confusion. After the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, a lot of users might be confused whether to buy the new Galaxy smartphone, or opt for the iPhone. We pitted the Galaxy S9+ against the iPhone 8 Plus, and compared them based on their price, specifications and features. Here’s how they compete.

Price and availability

The new Galaxy S9+ is offered in two storage variants, 64GB variant priced at Rs 64,900, whereas the 256GB variant priced at Rs 72,900. The iPhone 8 Plus, on the other hand, is priced at Rs 77,560 for 64GB variant, and Rs 91,110 for the 256GB variant. Price wise, the new Galaxy S9+ is quite cheaper compared to the iPhone counterpart.

While the iPhone 8 Plus is already available at leading retail stores and e-commerce portals, the Galaxy S9+ will go on sale starting March 16, and will be available via Flipkart and local retail outlets.

Display, chipset and RAM

The Galaxy S9+ comes with a 6.2-inch QHD AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9, whereas the iPhone 8 Plus flaunts a 5.5-inch Retina full HD display. Clearly, Samsung is ahead in terms of screen size, resolution and technology. At the heart of the Galaxy S9+ runs Samsung’s Exynos 9810 octa-core SoC paired with 6GB of RAM. The iPhone 8 Plus, on the other hand, is powered by Apple’s 64-bit A11 bionic hexa-core chipset paired with 3GB of RAM.

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Cameras

Both smartphones from Apple and Samsung come with dual-camera setups at the back. The Galaxy S9+ comes with a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens and dual aperture ranging between f/1.5 to f/2.4, supplemented by a secondary 12-megapixel telephoto lens of aperture f/2.4.

In comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus comes with a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens of aperture f/1.8, and a telephoto lens of aperture f/2.8. The dual camera setup on both smartphones lets you add DSLR-like bokeh effects to the photos, and also add 2X optical lossless zoom.

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The dual aperture on the Galaxy S9+ helps capture better photos in low light with f/1.5 aperture, and day light photos with f/2.4 aperture. The cameras also support super slow motion video capture at 960fps in HD resolution. In comparison, the iPhone 8 Plus supports slow motion video capture at 240fps. Up front, the iPhone 8 Plus comes with a 7-megapixel camera, whereas the Galaxy S9+ comes with an 8-megapixel camera for selfies and video calling.

Operating system, battery and connectivity

While the Galaxy S9+ runs Android 8.0 Oreo with Samsung’s custom UI on top, the iPhone 8 Plus runs on iOS 11, and we cannot make any comparisons about that as both operating systems differ from each other. While the iPhone 8 Plus is armed with a 2,691mAh battery, the Galaxy S9+ is armed with a 3,500mAh battery, and both support wireless charging feature.

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On the connectivity front, both smartphones feature NFC, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 4G VoLTE. The Galaxy S9+ also comes with a hybrid dual SIM card slot that lets you add two nano-SIM card slots or use one nano-SIM card and one microSD card.

Other features

For security, the iPhone 8 Plus comes with a Touch ID fingerprint scanner on the front for biometric authentication, Samsung has added a fingerprint scanner, Iris scanner, and face recognition feature, along with a heart-rate sensor at the back. Both smartphones also come with IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, allowing you to submerge them in 1.5-meter water for up to 30 minutes. The Galaxy S9+ also comes with Samsung Pay for cashless payments.

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The Galaxy S9+ also comes with AR Emoji feature. It uses 3D facial recognition technology to turn your face into an animated Emoji character, and you can share them on instant messengers and social media to make conversations more interesting. Clearly, just like the Galaxy S9, the Galaxy S9+ too leads the iPhone 8 Plus in every department, and is still priced quite lower.